Erza's constant turning and Nashis soft snores were the only noise you could hear throughout tonight.
The girls had stayed the night, sleeping on the couch and bed beside me. Nashi was in her crib sleeping soundly.
My eyes stung as the stared endlessly at the ceiling, they felt droopy from hours on end of staying up and tending to the baby. Luckily the girls were there to do me a favor.
Even though I had two fellow mages capable to kill a guild in one swoop, I still felt anxious. A sinking feeling was stuck in my gut. I couldn't help but be nervous; scared even. I snaked my hand through the crib to place my fingertips on Nashi's little toes, just for a feeling of security.
She was surprisingly warm, unlike most of the times I've held her.
Nashi's little snores were soothing. Her small chest rising up and soon falling down gave me a reassuring feeling. It was good knowing she was alive. Since she couldn't talk or really move, she was like a doll.
           Erza rolled over causing me to stiffen up. I eventually let lose realizing she was still asleep. I grew tired, weary even. Too tired to hold my head up or to hold up my arm. I finally let myself drift off to sleep; once more.

"Luce?" Came a voice. I didn't know who it was, but I had a feeling it was someone I knew.
Their voice was like a drug. I wanted to hear it over and over again. It was masculine and confident. "Lucy?" It came again. I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't.
"Luce?!?" It began to yell.
"Lucy!!" I tried to open my eyes once more, glad that I could finally visibly see the person.
When the salmon hair finally came to view, my eyes began to water. How did I not know it was him? He had an uncertain grin on his face.
"Are you doing good? It's strange meeting you here." He said with uncertainty.
Sakura trees swayed behind him, petals falling around his frame. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I felt like something was caught in my throat. He gave me a familiar smirk making me feel guilty. Guilty that I had been keeping things from him. "How's life been going Luce? The guilds been missing you." There was a strange echo to his voice, peculiarly unlike how it's supposed to sound like in the atmosphere of the outdoors. "Have you been keeping up with jobs? Do you have enough pay?" I attempted to nod my head, but to no prevail. I couldn't do anything. It was almost as if I was watching a film of the scene before me. "How come you aren't replying?" He continued. "Are you mad at me?" His face fell when I didn't reply once more. "What did I do?" I wanted to reassure him that everything was fine, but I was frozen.
"O.K. I see how it is. I'll just be going." He finally spoke before turning around, sorrow in his eyes. I wanted to stop him, but he kept going. Not turning around. Not even a glance.

"LUCY!!"

I screamed as I sat up from the bed. I looked around unsure of my surroundings.
"Are you O.K? You were crying." The blue haired Mage inquired. I felt my cheeks for any sign of crying, and sure enough my cheeks were stained with hot tears.
"Oh....Sorry about that, I guess I had a bad dream..."
"You guess? You slept through Nashi's crying! When we got up to see if you were alright, you were sobbing in your sleep!" I looked towards the crib at the sound of Nashi's name. I panicked when she wasn't there.
"Where is Nashi?" I asked with a roar in my voice.
"I got her." Came a voice. I looked behind Levy to see the familiar scarlet haired Mage holding the salmon haired child. I sighed a sigh of relief as I plopped back down onto my pillow.
"So whats today?"
"Uh, Tuesday?" Levy said with a sarcastic tone.
"I mean like activities."
"Oh. I don't know. Why not we do the job we came here for." She continued.
"That could do." Erza chimed in with a smirk. I sighed and got up from the bed.
"I should have expected that."

        I closed the door to the cabin, Nashi in hand. She lay across my arms, tucked in snug. My cloak was hung on my shoulders, swaying behind me. It wasn't as concealing with the hood down.
"So what exactly was the job?" I inquired.
"Umm..." Levy flipped open her satchel, searching through its contents. She eventually pulled out a crumpled paper. She skimmed over it before continuing.
"It's something with a diner. Probably another one of those waitressing jobs."
"That is a possibility." Erza acknowledged. "Do they even need wizards for those things?"
"People have gotten lazy nowadays." I ranted. "They could seriously hire anyone."
             Nashi tugged on strands of my hair, I ignored it and kept the conversation active.
"Where exactly is it?"
"It should be just down this street. If we keep going we'll be there in no time." Levy concluded before shoving the paper into her bag once more.
               Erza smiled down at the little infant in my arms, often making silly faces in attempt to make her laugh. But of course, she couldn't. She's only a couple of weeks old; soon to be a month.
               The city was strangely quite. Not a lot of people were going about. We soon reached the diner, pushing through its doors without hesitation.
"Here?" I asked.
"Yeah, here." The girls set their stuff on the table, me deciding to sit down. They headed towards the back in search of the job requester.
"Hello?" A feminine voice rang.
"Hi! Were here for the job request." Erza sang.
"Oh, goody!! Come, come." I continued to rock Nashi as the girls footsteps headed even further back into the diner.
                 The bell on the door rang as it swung open, footsteps not falling far behind. I looked up to see a beaming little girl glaring at me. I smiled when I realized she was looking at Nashi.
"Ooo~!! Can I look at her ma'am?" Her eyes sparkled as she looked at me with enthusiasm.
                The little girl had light brown hair pulled up into pigtails. Little pink ribbons were tied in her hair. The girl had on a matching dress with patterned white leggings.
"You can." I giggled. She scurried over to me with her little pink dress swaying alongside her.
"She's so cute!" She cooed. Nashi looked at the girl questionably, soon to give her a toothless smile. The little girl bubbled with joy. "What's her name?!" She marveled.
"She's Nashi." I replied. The little girl smiled at Nashi.
"Hi Nashi! I'm Iana." She beamed. I grinned at her aura of glee.
                 Erza came out trailing behind Levy; both wearing a strange uniform.
"We better be getting paid for this." Levy grumbled.
"Oh you will!" The old lady began, "ever since a group of wizards showed up, I've been getting a lot of attention. So if I get more wizards to show up, I'll get more costumers!" Erza sighed looking down at the clothes she's wearing.
"I just met her and I already hate her."
                   Iana giggled beside me. Realizing that she was still in my presence I looked down at Nashi once more. Watching her attempt at a toothless grin was entertaining.
                  Levy picked up her bag and placed it at the table I was sitting at.
"Okay, well. Might as well start off small." She pulled out a notepad and pen. "What would you like?"
"A hot chocolate I guess." I smiled. Levy gave me a sarcastic hysterical grin making Iana giggle once more.
"Oh why hello there little girl, what might you be up too?" Levy smirked.
"Well, my parents are out shopping, and I saw this baby so I decided to follow." She said with a toothy smile.
"Well, you should get going. I wouldn't want your parents to worry." Levy finished returning a grin, escorting Iana out the door.
"Well she was a sweet little girl, don't you think Nashi?" Nashi gave me a confused face in return.

If only I knew what was to come...

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Okay, so I didn't want this chapter to be too long, and I didn't want to make you guys wait too long so the ending of the chapter is a little abrupt. 😕

Iana ~ eye - anna